Human plasmacytoid and myeloid dendritic cells (DCs), when appropriately stimulated, can express the archetypal natural killer (NK)-cell surface marker CD56. In addition to classical DC functions, CD56+ DCs are endowed with an unconventional cytotoxic capacity.
Keywords: CD56; cytotoxicity; dendritic cells; human; myeloid DCs; plasmacytoid DCs.